Ch.201Out of Order / Under Repair

As Jessica had predicted, the route to the second destination was far from smooth.

While part of the delay was due to having to detour around forests too dense for the carriage to pass through, the bigger issue was the frequent combat encounters that halted their march.

The first monster they encountered was a Tree Ent, a massive tree that moved on its own. The Tree Ent attacked by swinging its long, lush branches like whips. With no blind spots and a wide attack range, it wasn’t a good match for Seti. However, since it lacked ranged attack capabilities and moved slowly, they managed to defeat it by maintaining proper distance and concentrating gunfire. The Tree Ent’s magic stone was apparently in high demand as material for magical tools that promote plant growth, so they decided to bring it back to Moon Lake rather than using it as fuel for the repellation field.

About an hour after defeating the Tree Ent, they encountered a swarm of insects called “Horrible Swarm.”

Horrible Swarm referred to a collective of hundreds of fingernail-sized flying insects that, while individually unremarkable wild bugs, were controlled by a specially mutated queen. Due to their tiny size, they were difficult to combat with guns, melee weapons, or even most magic. Though each insect’s attack power wasn’t significant, the pain of having hundreds of insects clinging to your body and tearing at your flesh was said to be indescribable.

As soon as they encountered the Horrible Swarm, Jessica ordered everyone to turn their horses and flee at full speed, but in the dense forest where it was already difficult to gain momentum, shaking off the pursuing insect swarm was impossible. They faced a critical moment—should they risk a forest fire by using Fireball, or try to snipe the queen somewhere in the center of the hundreds of insects?

“Shockwave Splasher!”

As Phyllis shouted this unfamiliar spell and moved the muzzle of her Arcane Alter Rifle sideways like a machine gun, dozens of blue magic bullets poured out toward the Horrible Swarm.

“Pop-pop-pop!”

With sounds like firecrackers, each blue magic bullet created small circular explosions, and the Horrible Swarm caught in the blasts vanished without a trace. The overwhelming display reminded one of a battleship’s anti-aircraft barrage sweeping away an enemy fighter squadron in one go.

“Wow!? What was that just now?”

“Shockwave Splasher. It’s an area attack spell that compresses water and air at high density, scatters it, and then detonates it all at once.”

“So this was the new magic developed at Moon Lake. It’s incredibly powerful…”

“Well, the spell’s power itself is only about half that of Fireball. Think of it as a means to annihilate multiple weak enemies.”

Though she said this, Phyllis’s face clearly showed an expression that said “please praise me more.” It was encouraging to have a method to attack multiple enemies without the risk of fire.

After defeating the Horrible Swarm, they enjoyed a brief period of peaceful travel, but then trouble struck the carriage. The left wheel was damaged by a surprise attack from a large spider called an “Ambush Spider” that had been hiding underground. Ambush Spiders were spider monsters that cut off their prey’s ankles with two razor-sharp front legs. While hiding underground, they didn’t rely on sight but detected prey through vibrations. The Ambush Spider that detected our presence aimed its front legs not at the Ancestor’s ankles but at the carriage wheel…

“Ah, seriously! It split it so cleanly!”

“It didn’t look that powerful though…”

It had achieved the feat of completely destroying one wheel of the covered wagon at the cost of its own life.

“Mina, can you fix it?”

“No way, no way. A wheel that’s been split like this won’t support the carriage’s weight even if I force a repair. It would be better to make a new wheel and replace it.”

“Make a new wheel, here?”

“There’s plenty of wood around here. But I can’t rely solely on the crafting tablet, so it’ll take some time.”

“Can’t be helped… Let’s set up camp in this area, even though it’s a bit early. Mina won’t be able to work comfortably unless the surroundings are secure.”

In the end, today’s march was halted about 50km from the outlaws’ camp.

Since no one was eager to sleep right next to an Ambush Spider’s burrow, they somehow balanced on the remaining three wheels and moved to a clearing about 100 meters away. While Jessica and Phyllis prepared the repellation field and tents, Mina cut down trees for the carriage repair, and Seti and I helped Mina move the felled trees near the tent. After filling her stomach with smoked meat and bread taken from the outlaws, Mina started working and created an exact replica of the damaged wheel in about two hours. After attaching the completed wheel to the carriage and conducting a simple driving test, she organized the remaining materials in the cargo hold and shook off the sawdust and wood chips from her clothes, completing the series of tasks.

“Phew~ All done…”

“Good job, Mina. It looks perfectly fixed!”

“Yeah, I think it turned out pretty good quality, even if I say so myself! On days like this, nothing beats wetting your throat with strong liquor and sleeping soundly.”

“I understand how you feel, but it would be troublesome if our mapping specialist gets drunk and loses her senses.”

“Oh, it’s fine. No matter how strong the liquor, dwarves always wake up fine after sleeping it off.”

“Come to think of it, I’ve never heard of dwarves suffering from hangovers.”

When Jessica agreed with her, Mina cleared her throat, puffed out her modest chest, and put on a smug expression. No matter how strong the liquor, they’re fine the next day… is that so?

“If that’s true, I might treat Mina to a drink for her hard work on the carriage repair.”

“Oh? What is it, what is it?”

Under Mina’s expectant gaze, I took out the Cup of Glory from my bag. The Cup of Glory, which could summon any drinkable liquid once a day, could naturally summon alcoholic beverages like beer or whiskey. However, as I had tested recently, the quality of alcohol the Cup of Glory could summon was limited to ordinary quality based on the summoner’s knowledge. When it was revealed that it couldn’t produce premium liquors like Valentine something or Romanée whatever, Mina’s interest in the Cup of Glory quickly waned, and since then, it had only been used as a liquid seasoning summoning device.

‘But strong liquor and premium liquor aren’t synonymous.’

As I channeled mana into the Cup of Glory in my hand, a clear, transparent liquid quickly filled it, releasing a strong alcoholic smell. Spirytus—an insane liquid with 95% alcohol content that one could hardly consider fit for human consumption. I had tried it just once during my freshman year of college, got a harsh lesson, and never looked at it again.

“Ooh~ That’s a fiery alcohol smell!”

“Are you… going to drink this?”

As Jessica, Seti, and Phyllis backed away, waving their hands at the ominous alcohol scent of the Spirytus, Mina’s eyes sparkled with anticipation at being able to drink this strong liquor by herself, and she took the Cup of Glory.

“What’s this liquor called?”

“It’s called Spirytus. To be precise, it’s closer to being an ingredient for liquor rather than—”

“Okay! Spirytus, down the hatch~ Glug, glug…”

“Whoa!? Hey, hey! You shouldn’t drink that in one go!”

“…Puha~ Phew~~~!! This is amazing!!”

Perhaps it was too much even for a dwarf to down in one shot, or maybe she just didn’t want to finish it all at once. After gulping down nearly half of the Spirytus in the Cup of Glory, Mina trembled and exclaimed in admiration.

“H-hey… are you okay? That’s 95% alcohol.”

“That’s basically pure alcohol!? Mina, are you alright? Isn’t your stomach turning inside out?”

“Hm~? I’m fine, I’m fine. Dwarves don’t get upset stomachs from alcohol. Hehehe~*hiccup*.”

“Oh…”

A flushed face and slurred speech. Witnessing Mina drunk for the first time, all of us were equally shocked, but Mina herself seemed to find our expressions amusing and burst into laughter before starting to gulp down the remaining Spirytus in the cup. Is it really okay to pour that liquid directly like that? Should I ask Jessica to cast a detoxification or healing spell on her? As various thoughts crossed my mind, Mina, who had somehow moved right next to me, held out the now empty Cup of Glory.

“Will~ This is really the best~ Give me another~”

“That’s impossible right now. You know the Cup of Glory can only be used once a day.”

“Aw~ Then I’ll have to wait until midnight?”

“No, wait… I never said I’d summon this for you every day.”

“Eh~~~? You won’t~? Please, big brother Will~”

Mina clung tightly to my right arm and rubbed her small chest against it while acting cute. Seeing this, Jessica and Phyllis covered their mouths and stared at Mina and me with wide eyes, while Seti maintained her usual cool expression and gave a thumbs up, saying:

“So Mina can be conquered with alcohol. Good strategy.”

“N-no. This development was completely unexpected.”

“Hmm~? Will, were you planning to get me drunk and lure me to bed~? Hehehe~ Finally it’s my turn, is that it~?”

“It’s not! Calm down! Don’t do something ridiculous because of the alcohol… mmph!?”

“~~~~♥♥♥!!”

Mina’s small lips suddenly pounced on mine, completely enveloping them and starting a passionate kiss with a smacking sound. More passionate than the kiss we shared in the Silverang village, Mina’s kiss carried the intense alcoholic scent of Spirytus.

“Smooch! Hmm… this doesn’t feel right? It felt more erotic back then…”

“Just lightly touch the lips and use your tongue.”

“Tongue? Got it~”

“Hey, Seti! Don’t give advice, stop her… mmm!”

“Slurp… lick… mmm…”

Straddling my thighs, Mina firmly held my face with both hands and stuck out her cute tongue, licking my lips, then quickly mastered the technique and began delivering erotic kisses by barely overlapping our lips. From the side, it might have looked comical, like a young girl forcibly imitating adult kisses, but regardless of her small size or clumsy technique, the soft, moist sensation on my lips was undeniable…

“Ahah♥ It got hard.”

“Hey, you!? Where are your hands going!”

“Hehehe~ You’ve got a nice thing here~? Using this to make Jessica and Seti and Phyllis moan every night…”

With a devilish smile, Mina reached down with one hand to touch something, but her expression gradually hardened.

“Make them moan… with… a T-Titanium Revolver…?”

“…As if.”

“……”

Whether the alcohol had worn off a bit, or the shock of what she had done exceeded the effects of the alcohol, Mina froze completely, her eyes shaking violently as her already flushed face turned an even deeper red—

“Pshuuuuu~~~”

*Thud*

She made a sound like steam escaping from a rice cooker, rolled her eyes back, and fainted.

The three people who had been watching the entire scene from beginning to end also had faces as red as radishes.

“…D-drunk Mina is quite bold.”

“I thought she was going to go all the way.”

“You guys… instead of just watching, you should have stopped her.”

“B-but Will didn’t seem to completely dislike it.”

“Hmm. I thought it wasn’t my place to intervene unless Jessica stopped it.”

“No, you should have stopped it. Even if there was such an intention, having your first experience while drunk outdoors… that’s not right.”

“Outdoors… *gulp*.”

Hey, Phyllis? Why are you swallowing saliva there?

And Seti, stop giving off that peach scent.

“Good grief… I’ll put this drunk in the tent and come back. Let’s all brush our teeth and go to sleep. We didn’t move much today, so we need to make up for it tomorrow.”

“Are you okay, Will?”

“About what?”

“No, um, that… if you’re burning up because of Mina and can’t hold back…”

Jessica said this while twirling the ends of her hair with her fingers and glancing at my lower body. Seti and Phyllis also understood Jessica’s meaning and nodded slightly toward me.

“…It’s an incredibly tempting offer, but I’ll hold back today. I want to prioritize rescuing Phyllis’s sister.”

Thanks to the mock barrier tower, we’ve bought some time, but that’s no reason to put the search for the Dark Elves on the back burner. Right now, I need to do my best as an adventurer rather than indulge in pleasures as a lover.

…Though I’m a bit worried about how to face Mina tomorrow morning. Let’s hope she blacked out and doesn’t remember anything. Yeah.